


A Day As Any Other

by Anonymous



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Eventual Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Temporary Character Death, Violence, and initially they all have other worries, but they'll get there, groundhog day style, slowburn, that relationship takes a bit to develope
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2018-08-09 20:08:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7815385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spinning lights, swirling darkness, and red, redredredred. </p>
<p>It's a nightmare, Lance thinks when he wakes up. But as the day progresses, he no longer is that convinced. And when the alarm blairs and he finds himself fighting among stars that are familiar despite that he knows he never saw them before - something isn't right. </p>
<p>Yet figuring out what is going on will neither be quick nor easy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Just A Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, please do mind the tags! Temporary character death pt.1 upcoming!   
> Also: very short intro chapter. Normal chapter length for this is 1k+ at least.

“Lance, watch -"

Pain.

_ Painpainpainpainpainpainpainpain _ . Screaming. Alarms. Sirring. Whizzing. Cracks. Crunching. 

Spinning lights, swirling darkness and red,  _ redredredred _ .

It's all over his hands, his uniform, Blue’s consol (and oh, that will be so difficult to clean, Pidge and Allura and everyone will be so angry, and he's sorry, he didn't mean to get everything dirty again and -)

He lifts opens his eyes (when did he close them?) to tell them he’s fine, alright, sorry for the interruption, and instead just catches screaming and shooting and explosions -

And sees the bright, red hole in his stomach (unreal, because he isn't in pain, but he barely feels anything and the battle, where did the battle go, how is -). Red, so much red - 

Nothing.


	2. Day 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance wakes up. And goes about his day as usual. Only at the very end things take a drastic turn south.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The "real" chapter.

Lance jumps up. The alarm next to his bed shrills, a ghost pain runs through his stomach and he reaches up. His fingers touch the heavy fabric of his shirt; sweat-soaked from what was a rather intense nightmare.

With a shudder, Lance peels back the blankets and banishes the gruesome images from his mind. Time to train, he reminds himself - and maybe breakfast, if he hurries now.

Lance arrives, naturally, just when everybody else is finishing up. Keith raises an eyebrow, Pidge doesn't look up from the gadget she fiddles with, Hunk waves at him, and Shiro smiles - business as usual then, but after that nightmare Lance finds their small team cheerful in comparison. His heart still shudders at the memory.

“So, what's the plan for today?” he asks Allura while helping himself to a generous helping of today’s purple goo (the things you can get used to. But dying - or well, dreaming of death - apparently endears many things. Even Keith’s mullet doesn't look quite so sore to Lance this morning).

“Coran and I will be navigating the castle through the local star system so you shall have to conduct your own training,” Allura announces regally while Lance takes a hearty bite of his gooey breakfast. “I believe Shiro has designed a plan.”

Shiro nods in affirmation while Pidge pushes her glasses up with interest. “What system are we flying through? I was under the impression the castle didn’t require manual navigation.”

Hunk turns to Allura with unveiled concern written across his face. 

Allura smiles. “That is true, but in this case we are journeying through JVD 713 to the Myrmidan system where we hope to make contact with potential allies. The Myrmidan people have developed a highly sophisticated technology, capable of hiding and defending entire planetary systems from the Galra.”

Pidge’s eyes widen at that and Lance manages a “that sounds nifty” between a mouthful of goo. Keith shoots him a glance of vague disgust, to which Lance replies with a bright smile - one that he hopes is brightened by reminders of purple goo stuck between his teeth. 

“Do we know how to avoid their hiding mechanism then?” Hunk inquires, tilting his head. “I mean, how do we know their defensive mechanism won’t attack us?

“We have an idea,” Allura replies, and Lance can't help but think that this doesn't sound all that promising. Next to him, Keith stiffens. 

“Do we need them as allies that badly?” Keith asks and crosses his arms before his chest. “If they've chosen to hide away, good for them. But it gives the impression they won't be interested in helping to take down the Galra.”

“Ordinarily, they wouldn't,” Allura says and then turns a determined smile onto her paladins. “But we have Voltron now.”

* * *

After breakfast they head straight to training and it goes as well as expected. Shiro frowns in varying degrees of disappointment when the Paladins fail to complete the obstacle course he laid out and demonstrated how to get through. 

“I’m just not that tall,” Pidge declares when they all sit down and get refreshments. “There was no chance I’d ever reached that hook!”

Hunk nods - he too had struggled to make the jump that was required to reach the hook which then would have allowed a swing to the next part of the obstacle course. “Maybe lower it a bit? I mean, you’re the tallest out of all of us, Shiro.”

Shiro seems to consider it, though Keith shakes his head. “Your enemies won’t lower any hooks for you either,” he declares, and Lance finds he silently agrees. “You need to be creative.”

“Well, this isn’t a real battle, though,” Lance protests on principle. “In that case I also could have simply grenaded my way out of the melee portion.” Which was the part that got him taken down. For all his skill with a gun, the moment the bots got to close Lance found himself swiftly (and painfully. Falling onto his behind wasn’t graceful or comfortable) taken down.

“You’re all right,” Shiro says with a small smile. “But how about you give it one more try? We can still make adjustments later.”

On their second attempt, things go better. Hunk finishes, well behind time, but he gets through. Pidge finds a creative solution indeed: she reprograms the bots to bow to her as she walks past. Lance laughs and claps, while Keith stares aghast, but even Shiro chuckles. 

“You told be to be creative,” Pidge sings cheerfully after ending her performance. 

“Indeed,” Shiro agrees. And who knows, Lance thinks, with the craziness of space they may just encounter that one battle to be won by reprogramming the enemy to bow instead of attack. 

Keith’s turn comes up next and he clears the course with dramatic vigour, acrobatics, and gusto. Impressive, thinks Lance, just as Shiro claps and says “great, but you’re still ten seconds late.”

Keith’s face falls. 

“You needn't clear off all the enemies,” Shiro adds a little more gentle. “Remember, the aim is to get through, so only focus on the direct threats.”

Keith nods, while Lance stands and stretches. His turn is up, and having observed his team mates, he feels rather confident about getting through the course on time. 

But just as he is about to start, a loud alarm blares across the castle. 

“Paladins,” Allura’s voice comes over the intercom, “we have picked up a signal. A fleet of Zarkon’s warships is trailing us.”

The five of them exchange one short look. Then they all start running.

* * *

 

“Isn't it odd?” Lance asks as he fires at a tiny Galra ship drone (of which there seems to be an endless amount. Whenever they've taken down one wave, another appears, and it's eerily similar to that dream). “Allura said Galra wouldn't be able to get through here, didn't she?”

“Not quite,” Pidge corrects from where she engages a larger drone - and dismantles it with three precise strikes. “The defense mechanism isn’t letting them come through to wherever they are. Wherever we are might be fair game. Also they probably just tracked us here.”

She finishes her work with one last strike, and the drone explodes. 

“Would you quit chatting and fight?” Keith interrupts, narrowly dodging a blast from a newer set of larger drones that just arrived. Lance realises he's missed a small battalion of Galra fighters and hurriedly takes aim.

“Pidge, how many of those are out there?” Hunk calls out, audibly out of breath. 

“Lemme scan -” Pidge returns.

“I’ll cover you,” Shiro agrees, smoothly sliding into place before any drones can even get near Pidge’s green lion. Lance keeps firing and firing. The drones explode, like tiny sparkling stars, but for every one that disappears three more show up, and it makes his skin crawl. His hands remain steady, but unease grows with him (and that sensation is familiar, like a shadow from that nightmare).

“There’s … billions,” Pidge grinds out, flabbergasted. “I don’t think that’s right - there’s something off with these reading, but I know that there are three Galra battleships hiding behind that moon over there.”

Lance sucks in a sharp breath. The drones barely damage the lions, but billions - 

“Should we form Voltron?” Hunk shouts, from where he smashes two more drone ships into each other. 

“Negative,” Shiro replies. “Let's get close to the battleships first. Pidge, do you have the coordinates?”

“Positive,” Pidge replies and Lance looks down to see a bunch of coordinates fly over his screens. He turns Blue into their direction and finds a familiar pattern of stars blinking back at him.

“Huh”, he thinks to himself, “didn't I see this before?” Well. At some point things had to start looking repetitive.

“To your left!” Hunk yells, and with curse Keith turns and brings out Red’s sword and down onto a new wave of Galra drone ships. Lance takes aim, fired twice, and then follows Shiro to that moon. As they fly past it, he can discern the dark silhouettes of three large battleships against the glittering backdrop of space, and yes, he has seen this before -

A shrill alarm pierces his thoughts.

Lance jerks forward, looks to his flashing control. 

“Ambush!” Pidge yells.

Lance’s cockpits lights up red; Blue shudders from two shots, he’s thrown forward and backward in his seat. Shields up, all systems online, minimal damage - but he looks out to see a fleet of tiny drones approach from the moon where they’d lain in wait. Dozens of them, dozens, armed to the nines -

“What are these?” Hunk yells, sirens filling the background. “They’re different!”

“Some sort of advanced technology,” Pidge assesses, no longer calm. “Watch out for their cannon fire! To your left, Lance!”

Lance ducks, barely in time. Blue evades, then strikes, and the drone shatters easily enough. But the parts look unfamiliar, the drone was larger - 

(than usual. He  _ has  _ seen this before-)

“Evade and retreat,” Shiro orders, calm over the ruckus of blaring sirens in the background. Black has taken a hit; Lance can see it struggling to keep up. 

“We need to form Voltron!” Hunk shouts and Lance thinks yes, yes, that's what they need to do. Advanced Galra tech or no, Voltron is still their ultimate card. His fingers fly across his controls - fire, turn, fire, fire, dodge, forward, fire - but Blue still takes more hits, shaking and swaying, but the shields hold and he mutters a silent apology for Blue.

They need to form Voltron and take out those fighters. 

“Shiro!” Hunk yells abruptly, and Lance looks back. 

The black lion is not far behind Lance.

It's flanked by three Galra fighters, badly hit and swaying forward more than flying. Around it more Galra fighters appear between twinkling stars. 

Lance’s stomach clenches.

“Stay on course!” Shiro yells over the blaring alarm that fills his cockpit, “I'll catch up with you!”

No, Lance thinks, no. We’re not leaving you behind. He takes aim and fires, not even stopping to think about how close those drones are to Black, what missing could mean - .

“Lance!” Keith shouts in alarm, joined by Pidge. Then the shots connect; the drones explode and Black breaks free, and all exhale in relief.

“Thanks,” Shiro breathes out calmly, and Lance sets shaking fingers against the control panel. This could have gone wrong so easily, he thinks, but makes to reply to Shiro - 

Then he catches sight of a growing red light atop the central battleship.

“What is that?!” Hunk yells.

“How -” Keith.

“Shiro, get out of the way, they’re aiming at you! Your shield’s won't -”

“Shiro!”

Blue may not be the fastest of all lions. But she's closest to Shiro. And Lance acts instinctively.

Somehow he manages to get to Shiro. Push him out of the path of the oncoming red beam. 

Pain.

_ Painpainpainpainpainpainpainpain _ . Screaming. Alarms. Sirring. Whizzing. Cracks. Crunching. 

Oh, but he's been here before?

Spinning lights, swirling darkness and red,  _ redredredred _ .

Is this the same?

It's all over his hands, his uniform, Blue’s console (and yes, it's exactly the same as in his dream and isn't this funny? he'd forgotten it had been a heating pipe that gored him; it lies slightly left to his chair, red and black with fleshy bits sticking to it)

His stomach twists. (Or rather, what is left attempts to twist and the world blurs and he faintly can hear his teammates shouting his name. But he can't reply, and isn't that ironic that even with this injury the motion sickness of his no-longer existing stomach will be the thing that kills him?)

He doesn't want to die - 

But then it's too late already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One quick note: the plotline for this is all sketched out, though my writing time is limited. Since my enthusiasm does react to feedback, feel free to drop me a line (or a smiley) and I hope to get this thing finished within a decent timeframe.


	3. Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand the next round. Only this time Lance is semi-convinced it wasn't a nightmare. Sadly, his suspicion gets confirmed just a bit too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Watch out for angst, bloodshed, and another round of temporary character death.

His alarm rings and Lance wakes up. He stares straight at the ceiling for a moment, Fingers clenching and unclenching in the bedcovers. His pyjamas stick to his body, soaked with cold sweat.

But he's alive.

His body is hale. No hole in his chest, no blood on his hands. The pain but a phantom memory.

Lance draws in a shuddering breath. Still. He's just had the same terrifying nightmare twice. Or thrice? Didn’t the nightmare start with him waking from a dream as well?

It's disconcerting, confusing, upsetting - but there is no explanation aside from freak chance, and the reality of his insistently beeping alarm difficult to deny. Thus, Lance eventually groans, rolls over, and gets out of bed.

Of course, he's late for breakfast. He drops down at the table, trying to shake off the vestiges of the nightmare (that phantom pain lingers like an icy fist wrapped around his heart). Scoops up purple goo. And pauses.

Even here he can't shake off the similarities: the conversations, the food. It's not exactly the same. Not exactly, but - he glances surreptitiously at his teammates. Judging their behaviour nothing is wrong. 

Lance heaves a small sigh and begins eating. 

Was it just an eerily realistic nightmare after all? Because any other explanation would require supernatural elements and even in a world with aliens, Lance finds the supernatural hard to stomach. Purple goo, on the other hand, goes down a bit easier.

“What's the plan for today?” Hunk asks while Lance is busy finishing his breakfast. 

Allura smiles at him. “I believe Shiro outlined a training routine for you paladins. As we are entering a more complicated sector of space Coran and I must fly the ship manually.”

Huh, Lance thinks, his blood running cold, and he can't quite stop himself from asking. “What sector is this?”

“The Myrmidan system,” Allura replies. “Have you by chance heard of it?”

Lance freezes. What are the chances? 

“No,” Pidge says and leans back, patting her stomach. “But why does it require active piloting?”

It's the same, it's the same, it's the same. A small voice in Lance’s head screams and screams and screams and he doesn't know what to do, frozen with a spoonful of purple goo half-way to his mouth, his lips twitching in disbelief. 

“Lance?” Shiro asks, concerned. 

“It's a defense system,” Lance bursts out, he has no idea what he is doing, but he can't keep quiet. Not when his brain is freaking out, and he feels he totters on the edge of an abyss. “The Myrmidan system, they found a way to hide entire galaxies from the Galra. They would make great allies, but first we have to make our own way past those defenses to get there.”

Silence. 

Coran and Allura look at Lance with astonishment, Shiro blinks in concern, and Pidge stares in bewilderment. Even Keith’s face has frozen with his jaw half-open. Hunk is the first to break the spell (and that mad tornado of spinning thoughts on Lance’s head), with a crease between his eyebrows he claps Lance’s arm.

“Man, how do you know all that stuff?” Hunk shakes his head with clear admiration.

“I want to know that too!” Pidge declares vigorously . “I've never heard of the Myrmidan system.”

Allura unfreezes, but the wonder in her eyes does not fade. “We only found out days ago. I too would like to know how you acquired your knowledge.”

Everybody nods. Lance grows hot under his collar, and he bites his lower lip. “It, well…” he hedges. “I had a weird dream last night?” 

“What?!” Pidge explodes and Lance awkwardly scratches at the back of his head. 

“I can't explain it either,” he says, unconsciously edging back in his seat. Under the fierce scrutiny of everyone in the castle he finds it even harder to explain. Especially since it all sounds ridiculous to himself already. 

“Just tell us what you know,” Shiro invites and tries for an encouraging smile. Allura and Keith second the notion with fierce nods - and Lance takes a deep breath and starts. 

“My dream was really similar to today, or the day in general so far.  I woke up from a nightmare, then I was late for breakfast, then you made the announcement about the system, and then we'd go and train. Shiro has an obstacle course prepared that we all failed at the first attempt.” Lance’s lips twitch slightly at the memory.

Shiro stiffens in surprise. 

“That true?” Keith asks and Shiro nods. 

“I did prepare an obstacle course…” His entire expression is bewildered and Lance shifts uneasily. 

“What happened next?” Allura wants to know. 

“We trained. Then there was an alarm because some Galra ship had followed us here,” Lance says.

Coran sucks in a sharp breath. “Followed us here?” he echoes.

Lance shrugs. “I don't know. We assumed they'd followed us, I think.”

“Who commanded them?” Allura demands to know, leaning across the table. Her eyes glow with determination and no small degree of concern - more for the possibility of being followed, then the weirdness of Lance’s tale. 

“I … I don’t think we ever found out?” Lance replies with another helpless lift of his shoulders. “Or if we did, I didn’t know?”

“You woke up?” Pidge surmises. 

It wasn’t that simple, Lance thinks, but he feels strangely reluctant to speak of his own death. The memory casts a shadow over his heart, and sends a shiver down his spine. He can still recall the surge of darkness. 

“Something like that,” he says. 

“How exactly?” Keith wants to know. “Did we fight the Galra? Did anything happen to wake you up?”

Lance blinks at him, wonders if he imagines the concern - probably. It’s obvious in Shiro’s and Hunk’s expression, but to Lance Keith has always been difficult to read. 

“We did,” Lance replies before he can think twice about it. “We weren’t doing particularly well, and had just planned to go after the command ship, I think. About to form Voltron.”

And then things went south. 

“I woke up around that time,” Lance says. He doesn’t know why he can’t say he died, but he finds the words have closed up his throat and won’t come out. Perhaps it’s the worry in his teammates’ expressions that makes him want to keep this additional grief from them. The situation is strange enough without adding death to the mix. 

“Well,” Coran declares, straightens and crosses his arms before his chest. “While this is highly irregular, it could just be chance.”

Lance sighs in relief. 

“But all the information about the Myridan system,” Pidge protests, “how could Lance have known that?”

Coran frowns. “He might have overheard Allura and myself talking, or maybe seen something in a database and forgotten about it.”

Hunk nods emphatically. “Yeah, I mean we forget a lot we read if it’s not initially useful to us. Might still remember it later.”

“It would also explain you knowing about my training course,” Shiro adds contemplatively. “While I did not talk about it, you might have passed me while I was programming the layout, or seen the blueprints in one of the databases.”

Everybody nods in agreement. Lance feels the tension seep from his spine. Just one huge freaky nightmare.

“And the rest might be simple coincidence,” Allura finishes with a calming smile. “Admittedly, the day to day life in space brings with it a degree of routine that may easily turn into a deja-vu situation.”

“See, there’s an explanation for it all,” Hunk declares and pats Lance’s arm with relief. Lance finds despite all he can’t quite relax yet. 

“I guess,” he laughs, though it comes out a bit forced. Just a simple nightmare after all, huh. He should breathe a little easier now.

Funnily, the memory of dying doesn’t exactly let him.   


* * *

They proceed to the obstacle course after that. Pidge keeps prodding Lance to reveal the challenges in the course, and he lists them to the best of his ability. In truth though, he doesn’t recall all the details. 

“You said we all failed,” Keith asks as they warm up. “Why?”

Lance tries to remember. “Well, you were too slow, I think,” he says, and Keith’s facial expression just grows a bit darker. “Pidge complained about not being tall enough”

“Hey!”

“And Hunk I think got held up? I’m sorry, it’s all getting a bit blurry,” Lance ends with a shrug. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Shiro says and jogs up next to them. “It was just a strange dream. Let’s see if you don’t manage to beat the course at first try this time around. Who wants to start?”

“How about Lance goes first?” Keith suggests. “If he's seen it before, he should be able to get through.”

“Hey, it wasn't easy!” Lance protests though Pidge already nods contemplatively. 

Shiro smiles. “Why not,” he says.

And with a groan Lance steps forward. 

It's easier and harder than before. The obstacle course is the same, exactly the same, and Lance doubts he'd have remembered it so well in his dream if he'd just glimpsed the information in passing. He knows exactly where the next bot will come from, knows how high or far he has to jump and when to reach for his bayard. But his whirling thoughts for he still wonders how a dream could have mirrored reality this closely, how it could have felt so real, distract him. 

A bot gets through his guard, and abruptly it's up too close and Lance flails. He dodges left, right, tries to get his gun up, but the shot goes too high, then past the bot. Getting a lock on target is impossible that close.

A dummy bullet slams into his shoulder. Lance loses his balance, tumbles over backwards and hits the ground hard. His bayard flies out of his hand, the training simulation flickers and disappears.

“Alright, Lance?” Shiro asks, while Lance climbs to his feet with a groan. His entire butt aches, and his pride feels rather dented. 

“Fine,” he replies.

“You did well,” Shiro comments only to be nearly pushed aside by Pidge stepping forward.

“So, is it the same?” she wants to know.

“Yes,” Lance confirms, resisting the desire to rub the smarting parts of his body. “Quite.”

“Hmmm,” Pidge seems intrigued. “Shiro, if you don't mind, I'd like to go next.” When Shiro has nodded his okay, she turns back to Lance once more. 

“Where did I go wrong?” 

“There was one jump you couldn't reach,” Lance replies slightly confused. But before he can think on it, Pidge has already marched past him and the simulation starts. 

Pidge makes good progress, yet if pressed Lance couldn't tell if it was any different from his dream. The uneasiness in his chest lingers, and he catches himself glancing over to the tick teller. 

“When did the Galra attack start?” Keith asks and Lance jumps. He's not heard the other move up next to him, not at all.

“I don't remember,” Lance says. “We'd all gone through the course at least once, but we'd also started earlier.”

Keith face shifts, and Lance can't quite figure out what Keith’s reaction is. He'd expected loud disbelief; hell, he's have had a hard time believing Keith if their roles were reversed. 

“Well,” Keith says, “if there’s no alarm we will know it was just a dream after all.” He gives Lance a tentative smile.

And Lance can only blink at him in dumbfounded bewilderment, touched and confused at the same time. Who are you and what have you done with Keith he wants to ask - but knows that would be unfair because for all his stoic pretended and standoffishness Keith has shown that he cares. 

“Yeah, that should -” Lance begins.

The alarm rings. 

“Paladins of Voltron,” Allura announces over the coms, “we are under attack! A force of Galra ships had followed us - we cannot allow them to proceed.”

Lance pales. Turns to stare at Keith with wide eyes.  _ It's the same, it's the same, it's the same. _

Keith blinks. “It's the same?” he whispers, shell-shocked.

Lance nods, frozen to his spot. 

“Lance! Keith!” Shiro calls over, “we need to go!”

“Wait!” Hunk interrupts, turning wild eyes on Lance. “Did this happen in your dream as well?” 

“Yes,” Lance says, his voice a faint echo of itself. 

“What does that mean?” Pidge exclaims, her voice jumping. “It wasn't a dream after all? But that makes no sense - what else would it have been, what -”

“We need to save the castle first,” Shiro interrupts her and rests a calming hand on Pidge’s shoulder. “We can figure out the rest later.”

He catches Lance’s eyes. “Lance, tell us all you know once we’re out there!”

Lance gulps, nods. Then he turns on his heel and they all start running.

* * *

Space is a black sea of glittering stars, bright laser fire, and colorful explosions. Lance twists and fires and turns and his mind spins, spins, and spins. There are countless Galra drones, all firing at them, their shots bouncing harmlessly off Blue’s shield, but there are so many, so many …

He remembers the pain.

Blue must pick up on his distress for she sends a wave of soothing energy his way, and Lance thinks that yeah, he knows he needs to concentrate on the battle. First they need to win this.

He can panic later.

“Lance, what about it?” Pidge’s voice comes over the coms. “The same?”

“I think so,” Lance replies because those many flickering lights always look the same to him.

“You know who’s leading this?,” Keith’s inquires, “where are they?” 

“Behind the small moon! Left of the castle!” Lance yells out and quickly hits the coordinates into the console. 

“Pidge, can you confirm?” Shiro demands.

“Negative, the moon’s blocking my scanners.”

“Roger, we go and check it out,” Shiro orders.

Lance swallows down the knot of foreboding in his throat as he commands Blue to move. Those stars are familiar. The tiny drone fighters that explode to their left and right are the same. 

Fear coils in his stomach. 

How far did they come again? It was quick in the end, but not quick enough. Was the dream a warning? Should he head back to the castle. 

“Lance?” Keith asks, and Lance glances up to see the black and green lion flying far ahead of him. Yellow hovers in the middle, while red is right next to him. 

“Fine, fine, I’m coming,” Lance replies with forced cheer that probably convinces no one. Blue sends a wave of concern his way; Lance focuses on the outside. Target and fire, target and fire and dodge. 

Keith takes out the few drones that come too close. He’s swift and sure, and something in Lance’s chest begins to loosen. Perhaps - 

A huge explosion lights up the dark universe for a moment, and Lance stares at the silhouettes of three lines against a humongous fireball. 

“Shiro! Pidge!” Keith shouts over the com. 

“Don’t worry,” Pidge replies with a degree of smugness. “Of those three ships, only two are left.”

Lance sighs in relief. He’s not dead, not dead yet. They made it past the moon, the three ships are in sight, and Blue’s shields are at full power. He has no reason to be afraid - it was a nightmare, just a nightmare - 

Pidge’s voice crackles back to life again. “My scanners detect minimal crew life signs on board those ships. Lots of drones then, probably. Our main issue will be the lasers - Hunk, can you take care of them?”

“On it!”

“I’d like to get a readout of the main ship’s database. Somebody also should disable their energy core so they don’t pursue us any further.” 

“Lance, Keith, can you do that?” Shiro inquires. “Then I’ll go with Pidge and get the data downloaded.”

“Alright,” Lance agrees, breathless. His fingers tremble as he punches in a landing sequence. Dock at the ship, get an entrance open, get going.

Routine.

And they’ve gone off the plan his nightmare scripted, so they should be fine from here on. He didn’t die, he made it past the critical path, and maybe Keith’ presence made all the difference. 

We never got this far last time, Lance thinks as he quietly slips out of Blue’s cockpit and onto the enemy ship. Orange emergency lights cast an eerie glow through empty corridors and he catches Keith wave at him from the other end. 

“This way,” Keith points toward the staircase. “Pidge's gotten into the ship’s central system; their energy core is down there.”

Lance nods and gets his bayard ready. They step into the stairwell. The irregular orange light sets Lance’s nerves on the edge.

Step by step they tiptoe their way lower - and it's deathly quiet. He can hear Keith breath, hear his own heart pound. Every little noise gets amplified, a step echoes hollowly, their gear clinks and clatters. Down, down, down they go with baited breath and their weapons at the ready. But no living soul comes in sight, no drone appears, and they don't hear anything either.

Finally they reach the bottom and see a large door ahead of them. 

“We've reached the core,” Keith whispers into his com. “Can you open the door for us?”

“Sure thing,” Pidge announces almost cheerfully. 

“Any luck with your search?” Lance asks Pidge.

“No, just a lot of jumbled data,” Pidge replies, “I need to sort it out first. Anyway, there's a contingent of Galra headed your way - Shiro and I will come down in a tick.”

“Understood,” Keith agrees and tightens the grip on his weapon.

“Let's try to get this thing disabled before they appear then,” Lance suggests with forced cheer, and with a loud hiss the door slides open.

The ship’s core consists of a large, circular hall. Lowered into the ground in the middle sits the energy core; countless cables disappear from it into the ground or into spires toward the dome. It's ceiling is shrouded in darkness that the flickering orange light does not permeate.

Keith steps toward the console. Lance turns his back to him, trains his gun on the entrance. 

All is silent.

But they know the Galra are coming.

“Can you do this?” he asks without turning around. 

“Just give me a moment,” Keith snipes back, the computer already beeping and clicking in response to his commands.

A new noise joins the cacophony - heavy - set, fast-approaching footsteps. Lance swallows, a spike of anxiety travels down his spine.

From the sound of it that contingent must count at least thirty. 

“Pidge, can you shut the gate?” he asks.

“Negative, we’re already heading down,” she replies. 

“Get to cover first, we can still disabled the controls then,” Shiro orders.

The footsteps have grown louder. Moments only, moments. Lance raises his gun.

“Keith?” he asks quietly. They need to get to cover now.

“Just a -”

The first soldier appears in the doorway. Lance fires, the laser easily piercing the drone’s armor. It falls to the ground with a loud clatter, three more appearing in its wake. And Lance fires, fires, and fires again.

He doesn't stop, doesn't breath, doesn't look at them fall. One shape hits the ground, then the next, then another. But they never stop coming, and they make progress and then a laser shot whistles past Lance’s shoulder and hits one of those cables.

“We need to get to cover, Keith!” Lance yells, because they’re moments away from being overwhelmed. There are just too many, and his pulse spikes, and then he has to dodge a bright green shot coming his way.

He shoots without aiming now, simply fires at the mass of armored bodies. Has to twist and dodge, and his frantic heartbeat echoes in his ears, sweat soaked his back, and a shot graces his ankle. White hot pain surges up his spine. 

“Keith!”

“Got it!” Keith exclaims in triumph, turns around, and Lance only then noticed that he's been pushed back almost into him. Their eyes meet.

Then a shot hits Lance’s back, right between his shoulder blades, and it pierced all layers of his uniform and the soft flesh underneath.

“Lance!!!” Keith screams. Abruptly the world tilts, there is pain, but Lance can't feel it, and everything is inverted. 

Keith throws himself forward, and huh, since when did he have a blue bayard gun? Lance blinks against the black encroaching on his vision - or is that just the ceiling he is staring up at?

Explosions at the corner of his field of vision, like twinkling stars. But he's not out there in space, he is lying here on his back, and someone is fighting and the ground is cool yet hot beneath him and the world turns, turns, and turns.

“Lance!”

When did Shiro get here? 

The sounds of the fight fade, somebody is trying to turn him over. 

“Lance, look at me!” Shiro yells.

Huh, how come he's on his side now? Keith kneels before him, face twisted in unveiled concern and Shiro looks at him, pale and worried and something dabs at his back.

Pain.

_ Painpainpainpain. _ It's white and hot and races from his spine straight to his brain, makes his body jerks and twitch and jump, and he coughs because his lungs spasm, and somebody is calling his name, and there is shouting, and then somebody touches his face.

Lance opens his eyes (when did he get so tired? He could sleep forever. Only a part of him is screaming not to, because this isn't normal fatigue).

“Lance, keep your eyes open!” Shiro pleads. Those are his hands touching Lance’s face (his mother used to hold him similarly when he had a fever, but her hands were different), and somebody else must have taken Lance’s hand. They’re holding it a bit too tightly, and Lance forces his mind to stop wandering. 

“What…?” 

Something wet and warm covers his lips. He tastes iron, and his mind finally makes the connection. His body is shutting down - he's felt this before.

The darkness is familiar. 

Isn’t it ironic? He made it past the dream-death, only to die aboard a Galra ship now?

“Don't sleep, Lance, don't fall asleep!” Shiro commands, “hunk’s on his way, he's bringing a healing pod over, and you'll be right as rain!”

The prodding of his back has ceased. The shot must have gone deep, he thinks. If there is blood in his throat it must be a terrifying injury. Probably beyond the capacities of even a healing pod.

Maybe the nightmare was a warning. One he didn’t heed. But at least the pain’s dulled.

He doesn't want to die (so far from home, he wanted to see his family again, go to the beach, swim, have all that amazing food, go out, fall in love,- ). 

“Lance, did this happen before, too?” Keith demands abruptly. He surges forward, right into the centre of Lance’s shrinking field of vision. 

“Not … exactly like that,” Lance choked out. It makes him cough, and his chest aches. He can barely breathe anyway, each rise and fall of his chest a struggle.

“Keith, what are you -?” Pidge begins to asks, but Lance forces himself to chuckle. 

“No,” he wheezes, “he's right. Don't worry.” Because they look terribly concerned and they shouldn't, so even if it is a lie, even if that thing was just a nightmare, and Lance is dying for real, he'll not have them sit here and despair.

“Last time was similar,” he presses out. His heartbeat slows. “Then I woke up…”

“You died, Lance?” Keith echoes in shock, just as Shiro shakes his head. “You're not dying! Lance, you need to hang on! Hunk is -”

His voice fades away. The world grows dark. Somebody is shouting his name, but Lance has no strength to open his eyes anymore. All has grown distant and dulled.

He lets go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter we begin deviating from the original setup already. :3


End file.
